


One of the Questions is Always Marie Antoinette

by GythaOgg



Series: Cornucopia, SC [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel/Dean Winchester One Shot, Date Night, F/M, M/M, No Angst, No Plot/Plotless, No Smut, Other, POV Dean Winchester, bar trivia, everyone has a good time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 05:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18514609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GythaOgg/pseuds/GythaOgg
Summary: It's date night, and Cas, Dean, Sam, and Jess go to Trivia Night at a local bar. Trivia questions are slightly more obscure, in a town full of supernatural creatures, gods, and demons. Also, raise your hand if you've had sex with Marie Antoinette!





	One of the Questions is Always Marie Antoinette

 

                Wednesday was Trivia Night, and the day seemed to fly by. Soon, Dean was picking Sam up from work and heading home. “So, is it just me, or do you feel like we should have done some research?” Sam asked, as they walked into the house. Dean scowled, wondering if he’d zoned out and missed the beginning of this conversation. “Uhhh, what are you talking about?” Sam tipped his head to one side and raised his eyebrows. “Welllll, this probably isn’t going to be your average bar trivia, Dean. If they do this every week, or every month, they’re probably digging deep to come up with good questions. I mean, a town full of gods, angels, demons, and everything in between?” Dean rolled his eyes at his brother. “There’s plenty of humans here too, Sam. No one’s going to ask what size shoes King Herod wore, or what instrument Pythagoras played in high school band.” Sam snorted. “They didn’t have high school band in Ancient Greece, Dean.” “See?!” Dean replied, with a brittle grin. “You’ll fit right in, geek boy!” He shoved Sam towards the bathroom. “Now go wash up. You smell like a wet dog.”

                The boys ate leftovers, then retreated to their bedrooms to get ready. Dean fussed over styling his hair so much that he had to wash all the product out and start over. Sam changed his shirt four times. In the end, the brothers barely made it out of the house on time, arriving at the Rathskellar at 6:56pm. Dean texted Cas as soon as they parked, and he came to meet them at the door. He gave Dean a quick kiss and a hug, shaking Sam’s hand, before leading them to a large table in the back.

                Since the Rathskellar was normally a karaoke bar, everyone there tonight was specifically there for Trivia Night. Even so, the place was about half full. According to Castiel, the owner hosted Trivia every other Wednesday, for the last three years. There were several people already seated at Cas’s table: Jess, Charlie and Abby from the tattoo shop, and a lean blonde guy, wearing an absurdly low-cut V-neck t-shirt, and cuddling a Havanese puppy. After saying hello to the women at the table, Dean reached his hand out. “Hey, I’m Dean,” he offered. The blonde gave him a lazy smile, and opened his mouth to reply, just as Cas interjected. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you hadn’t met yet. Dean, this is my friend, Balthazar Sorgin. Balthazar, this is Dean.” The blonde shook Dean’s still-proffered hand, and nodded. “Pleasure to meet you, Dean.” The guy was loaded down with pendants on leather cords, and had rings on nearly every finger. As Dean adjusted his chair, the guy downed a shot and then sipped from a martini glass, batting his eyelashes at Dean. Dean scowled, and turned to Charlie.

                “OK Red, be honest. What are we up against, here? Is this gonna be thousand-year-old, esoteric trivia, or do I actually stand a chance in Hell?” Charlie threw her head back and cackled. “Nahh, you’re fine. There’s always some obscure stuff, but it’s not too over-the-top. Plus, most of the really ancient players suck at the pop culture questions, so it kinda evens out.”

                The house rules were that each team had four players. Each team had a tablet that they entered answers on, and they had 30 seconds to answer each question. The person running the game was the owner, a lanky guy named Garth, who seemed exceptionally friendly, but about as goofy as could be. During his little preamble speech, Garth explained that he was human, but that the questions were chosen by a small panel of townsfolk, including humans, immortals, and other citizens, so it was always a good mix of historical and modern questions, and not biased towards one group or another. If you were on the question panel, you weren’t allowed to play for a month, and no team was allowed to have the same four members for longer than one year. No one was allowed to use their powers to cheat. The game consisted of six rounds, with 10 questions per round. Every round had questions from various categories, which were mostly typical pub-trivia fare: History, Sports, Movies & TV, Books & Words, Music, Food & Drink, and General Knowledge. Their game also had one extra category: Myths, Legends & Lore. Dean glanced over at Sam when he heard that, and caught him wearing a predictably shit-eating grin.

                During the rundown, Dean glanced around at the other teams. There were about 30 people here, most of them broken into seven teams. Dean, Sam, Cas and Jess were sharing a table with another team: Charlie, Balthazar, Abby, and a big, handsome, square-jawed guy named Zeke, who had just sat down. Those four had named their team “What’s the Worst That Could Happen” and had been playing together for about six months. When Dean leaned over to ask Charlie about the name, her reply was, “Oh, we’re a standard-issue human, a retired demon, a retired wizard, and an angel. What’s the worst that could happen?” Dean sat back and whistled, long and low, arching his eyebrow at that end of the table. “Hey Cas – what’s our team called?” he asked. Cas contemplated for a minute, looking from Dean, to Sam, to Jess, and finally, back to Dean. “How about Team Free Will?” Jess grinned, and Sam and Dean nodded their approval. “Team Free Will, it is.”

                Dean surveyed the rest of the competition in the room. All the other teams had at least one conspicuously non-human member, and a couple of the groups were entirely supernatural. The team at the table closest to them was Ryan Farnes (Sam’s boss, a werewolf), Devon Garcia (the werecat from the Bagelry), Ryan’s sister Madison, and an elf dude with pink hair, whom Dean recognized as one of the WonderTwins from the Halloween party. Dean waved at Devon, who beamed at him, mouthing “Hi Dean” and waving back.

                At the table behind them was Benny (the fire chief), the other WonderTwin, and two of the sexiest people Dean had ever laid eyes on. A man and a woman, who also appeared to be siblings, they were both dark haired and golden skinned, with full lips, dark eyes, and weirdly perfect eyebrows. Dean couldn’t tell what ethnicity they were . . . they could have passed for anything from Puerto Rican to Persian; they just looked vaguely exotic. The guy was wearing what Dean considered a casual hipster uniform: tight jeans, t-shirt, beanie and scarf. The woman, on the other hand, was wearing a tight t-shirt and sweatpants, and somehow still managed to look hotter than anyone in sweatpants had any right to look. He’d never met them, but Dean had seen them around town now and then, so he knew they were Shemar and Shea Delogo, the incubus and succubus who ran the local brothel. Dean realized, belatedly, that he had sucked in his stomach and was sitting up straighter. “What the fuck, Winchester? Stop that,” he thought, slouching back into his seat.

                The tables on the other side of Garth’s little podium held the last three teams. One included Gabriel Knight (the centaur who owned the mini-golf place), and a cute little brunette woman, with Italian features, wearing a baseball cap and cuddling up to Gabriel. Across from them sat Connall, the cheerful leprechaun who ran The Spot, and a woman even shorter than Connall, who had purplish-grey skin, bat wings, and slightly glowy eyes. The woman wore a shirtwaist dress, but she was so small, Dean was pretty sure it was just an average men’s button-down shirt, with a belt. On the other side of their table, sat Zomo Okolo (from the day care), next to Zoe Lovelock, the woman who owned the pet bakery. Dean had never been to The Barkery, but Zoe was Keri Aelwyd’s daughter, and Dean recognized her from hanging out at Keri’s pub, The Heart O’ The Home. He waved at Zomo, getting a big smile in return.

                Across from Zomo and Zoe sat a tall, gorgeous white woman, with short, cherry red hair, ear and nose piercings, ripped jeans, and tattoos down both arms. She had one arm draped around the shoulders of the lady next to her: a very pretty woman in a long, hippie skirt, with creamy skin, long, blonde hair, and big, curved horns on her head. “Oh,” Dean said, half to himself, “they must be Christopher’s parents”. Cas turned to him and rested a hand on his knee, following Dean’s gaze to the table nearby. “The blonde in the peasant skirt? Yes, that’s Sydney, and her wife Jenna. How do you know Christopher, but not them?” Dean covered the tattooed angel’s hand with his own. “Oh, uh, Sam and I went by the day care with Mike Boyce today, and Christopher decided he liked me,” he replied. “Hmmm,” Cas murmured, “I know the feeling,” and kissed Dean’s jaw. Dean tilted his head to rest his forehead against Cas’s. He knew it was corny, but it felt really nice to have someone to be corny with.

                Just before the game began, Dean scoped out the last team. He recognized Pamela Barnes and (one of) Calliope, and grinned at them, eliciting a lazy salute from Pam and a hyper little wave from Calliope. Sitting across from them were the Black Irish-looking lady who had worn a bathrobe and slippers to the Halloween party, and a goblin that Dean had seen a couple of times, but never been introduced to. He was dressed in a baseball jersey and ball cap, which Dean found ironic. “Al Bundy meets Griphook,” he thought.

                “OK folks, here we go! First question is Sports.” Garth called out, clapping his hands. “What is the diameter of a standard basketball hoop, in inches?” There was a distinct “Ha!” from the goblin, followed by rushed whispers at all the other tables. Castiel, Dean, Sam and Jess traded blank looks. “Umm . . . 24?” Sam guessed. Cas and Jess shrugged, and Dean just quirked his lips. “That’s as good a guess as any. Go ahead, Sam,” Jess said, gesturing to the tablet on the table. 10 seconds later, Garth called time, and announced that the correct answer was 18”. “Don’t worry about it; Carnegie always gets every sports question, anyway. It’s his thing.” Jess leaned forward to confide. Sure enough, the goblin was looking smug as Aileen and Pamela clapped him on his bony shoulders.

                “Food & Drink!” Garth announced. “Pecan pie is the official dessert of which US state?” Sam’s head swiveled to Dean, who let out an excited, “Ooh! Ooh!” and snatched up the tablet. At Jess’s amused snort, Sam turned back to her and explained, “Dean’s a pie connoisseur; plus we’ve had the state dessert in every state except Hawaii and Alaska. He’s got this one in the bag.” Jess grinned at Dean, and even Cas looked mildly impressed. “OK smarty pants, which state is it, then?” Jess asked. “Oklahoma,” Dean whispered back. Sure enough, Garth confirmed the answer, and Dean sat back, looking victorious, while Cas landed a kiss on his temple.

                The next category was TV & Movies, and Dean was confident he’d get this one, too. A little over-confident, as it turned out. “Who played Dorothy in the original Wizard of Oz movie?” There was a mixture of groans and indignant squawks from the players. “Seriously, Garth? Read the crowd! Too easy!” the centaur shouted. Dean looked around the table, lost, until Cas patted his hand, and took the tablet from him, typing in an answer that Dean couldn’t see. After a moment, Garth rolled his eyes at the crowd and said, “OK fine, do y’all just wanna say it all together, then?” He brought his hands up, like an orchestra conductor, and 20 people said, “JUDY GARLAND” in perfect synch.

                Now Dean was even more lost. “How did everybody know that? Did she live here, or something?” he asked Cas, in a loud whisper. Charlie caught Dean’s eye, down the table, and giggled. “Oh, sweetie, Judy Garland is Gay Culture 101. You’re really gonna have to catch up on your homework.” Dean’s neck and ears flushed, but he was mercifully distracted by Garth announcing “Myths, Legends & Lore” as the next category.

                “How do you get past a Dames Blanche, unscathed?” Dean had never even heard of a Dames Blanche, but Castiel looked thoughtful. “Cas?” Dean prompted. The tattoo artist shrugged one shoulder and whispered, “I’ve only ever encountered one, but I just smote her. It didn’t really occur to me to avoid a confrontation”. As Dean looked across the table towards Sam, he realized his brother already had the tablet in hand, whispering with Jess. Oddly, Jess had a soft, besotted look on her face, like Sam had said something romantic. That seemed a little out of place in a discussion about what Dean assumed was a violent monster, but OK. He kicked Sam under the table. “Wanna share with the class?” he hissed. Startled from his flirting, Sam leaned forward to whisper back, “You dance with her. She’s a Lady-in-White-type thing that haunts bridges in France”. He sat back, looking quite pleased with himself, as Dean’s eyebrows knit together. How the hell did Sam know that? Dean was 100% sure he’d never been to France. “You’re such a nerd, Sammy.”

                The next couple of questions were less obscure: “Who was the first African-American woman to win a Grammy?” (Ella Fitzgerald, which Jess knew) and “What was Ian Fleming’s first novel?” (Casino Royale, which Dean knew), followed by a History question. “Who invented the thermometer?” Cas immediately snatched up the tablet, typing in “Galileo”. Sam looked impressed. “Good job, Cas!” he whispered, nodding his agreement. “It was quite a big deal, even then. He was very proud of his invention.” Dean blinked. Cas had MET Galileo? Wow. Just when he thought he was starting to take this kind of thing in stride . . .

                Garth called the next three questions, two of which Team Free Will guessed wrong. Seriously, how were four grown adults with no children supposed to know the names of the Powerpuff Girls? (OK, so Charlie was ALSO a grown adult with no kids, and SHE knew it, but Charlie was knee-deep in geekdom.) Cas almost got Cleopatra’s age at death, but he guessed 38 instead of 39. Then the next Myths, Legends, and Lore question popped up, and they all learned something. “How do you make a Japanese Kappa go away?” Garth called out. Neither of the Winchesters, nor Cas, had ever even heard of a Kappa. They looked to Jess, who knew it was a water creature, but that was it. After a minute of snickering and giggling from a few players in the room, Garth revealed the bizarre answer. “You fart at them! Kappas hate flatulence,” the host chuckled. Dean and Sam traded suspicious, appalled looks, while Jess collapsed into a fit of giggles. Her laughter was contagious, and she was soon joined by Charlie and Balthazar, then Benny, Gabriel, Gabriel’s girlfriend, Sydney, and Jenna. It took a while for everyone to settle down again after that, at which point, Garth announced the end of Round One, and sat down for the 10 minute break. Everyone ordered snacks and drinks, or ran to the restrooms, and soon enough, Garth was back at the podium.

                “Who is the lead singer of the band Def Leppard?” Garth asked. Sam didn’t even blink, just shoved the tablet across the table to Dean. He typed out “Joe Elliott” with a smug grin, and sat back, folding his arms over his chest. Their team was doing well, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Sam and Jess were cuddled up on the bench seat, murmuring and staring at each other, like they were the only two people on Earth. Dean reached down and held Cas’s hand. A few tables away, Zomo and Zoe maintained a running commentary on the game, often cracking up the whole crowd. Balthazar kept holding his little dog up like a puppet, and speaking in a high-pitched squeaky voice, pretending the Havanese was making jokes. (Presto the puppy seemed to be delighted by all the laughter and attention.) The centaur stood nearby, contributing dry, snarky one-liners every so often, speaking around the lollipop in his mouth. Every single time Dean had seen him (except at the Halloween party), he’d been wearing an ironic or sarcastic t-shirt, and tonight was no exception. (This one was blue, and read “#Blessed”, with an arrow pointing down.) Dean looked around the room, watching everyone enjoy themselves.  He couldn’t remember the last time he was surrounded by this many people having a good time together, and he realized he wanted to do this again and again. He’d only had three beers, he was fully clothed, and he was in no danger of a fight, and yet, Dean was having a great time.   

                The game continued, with a lot of friendly trash-talking between teams. Jeremy (the elf in cargo shorts) and Madison (the werewolf) were particularly involved in trading barbs with the team next to them (Team Normal is Boring), especially Benny and Melinda (the other elf). Dean watched the two teams taunt each other for a while, then snickered at some crack Melinda made at Jeremy. “Gotta love siblings. Always fuckin’ with ya,” he commented. Zeke, who had been pretty quiet so far, looked thoughtfully at Castiel and mumbled, “Not all siblings”. Cas gave Zeke a soft, reassuring smile. That threw Dean for a moment, before he recalled that Zeke was an angel, and therefore, Castiel’s brother. “Aww, that’s sweet. Are angels just kinder by nature?” he asked. Zeke’s face stiffened; he looked uncomfortable, even sad, and Dean wished he’d kept his mouth shut, for once. “No,” Zeke answered. “They’re really not.” Cas reached over and touched Zeke’s hand. “Some angels can’t seem to remember that we are meant to forgive. But that is their loss, not ours,” Castiel said, quietly. Dean knew he was missing a lot of information here, but he didn’t ask. This was clearly a sore subject for Zeke, and he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth any more than he already had. Cas turned back to Dean and mouthed, “I’ll explain later”.

                Throughout the next few rounds, Team Free Will got several questions right. Dean was especially proud of getting the trick question on who won the baseball World Series in 1994. (No one won. There was a players’ strike, so they didn’t hold the World Series that year.) Pretty much everyone in the room (except Cas and Carnegie) got the question about tribbles on Star Trek. Even Dean’s years of borderline alcoholism came in handy, when one of the Food & Drink questions asked what size a standard bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey was. (The answer was 750 mL, and an eyeroll from Sam.) Dean was a tiny bit ashamed that he didn’t know it was the ancient Greeks who invented pie pastry, but overall, he was very happy with his contribution to the team.

                “Hey,” he asked the table in general. “Does Joe Black play trivia? Seems like something he’d enjoy,” he paused. “Oh, wouldn’t really be fair though, right? He could probably tell you what color the world’s first fish was.” Almost immediately, Zeke, Cas and Calliope all chimed in with, “grey”. Dean looked around, suspicious. “Are you shittin’ me?” he blurted. Zeke shook his head. “No, it was grey. White eyes. They’ve come a long way since then, if you ask me.”

                Dean sat, stunned, for a few seconds. After the next question, he scooted down the bench towards Charlie. “You’re human, right? And you didn’t grow up here or anything?” he whispered. Charlie gave him a Look, but replied, “Yes I am, no I didn’t. Why?” Dean pressed his lips together. “Do you ever get used to it?” Charlie let out her breath in a puff of nacho-scented air. “Yes and no. It’s always a little bit odd, but it feels like home, anyway. You’ll see.”

                The game continued, with the final round being “Who Am I”? Neither Dean nor Sam had ever played this particular form of trivia before. As Garth explained, “It’s easy: I give you a clue, you enter a name. BUT you only have 15 seconds.” No one on Team Free Will knew that Mary Shelley was considered the first science fiction author, but both Sam and Cas guessed the right answer (Nikola Tesla) to “My BFF was Mark Twain, but my richest friend was John Jacob Aster, and Thomas Edison hated my guts”. Dean knew the answer to “I’ve known my lead singer since I was seven, and I’ve played more than 2000 concerts with the same band, over the last 50 years,” was Keith Richards. Their team missed the pop singer clues, which Dean was perfectly OK with. Weirdly, Sam got the question on Alexis Bledel right. “Dude – you watched Gilmore Girls? Really?” Dean snorted. “Shut up, Jerk. That show was funny; it had great dialogue!” Sam snapped at him.

                The last question of the game was, “I was one of 16 children, born to an Emperor, and married to a King. I loved anal sex, and I died wearing purple heels.” Dean and Sam looked baffled (again), but Cas rolled his eyes, as Balthazar and Abby snorted. Soon, Shea and Shemar were giggling at their table, Madison was groaning, and the banshee was shaking her head and clicking her tongue. “Uhhh, what am I missing here, babe?” he mumbled in Cas’s ear. The tattooed angel finished typing, and turned to flash a grin at him, before muttering, “It’s Marie Antoinette.” Dean’s wide-eyed, expectant look prompted him to elaborate. “She had an exceptional sex drive, and a husband who did not share her . . . proclivities, so she looked elsewhere for her partners. Everywhere, in fact. She was very open-minded, and quite popular with both humans and non-humans. Balthazar, Abby, Shea and Shemar all . . . spent time with the Queen, as did Aileen’s girlfriend at the time. And that’s just the people in this room. It’s something of a running joke in town, so now, in every trivia game, one of the questions is always Marie Antoinette.” There was a distinct pause, as Dean absorbed the implications of that little story. “I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but that is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve heard about this town, so far,” Dean mumbled to himself. Cas chuckled. “Ohh, give it a year or two.”

                When all was said and done, Charlie’s team won 1st place, but Team Free Will came in 3rd. TFW received vouchers for one free drink each, while Team Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (2nd place) got free appetizer vouchers, and Charlie, Bal, Zeke, and Abby all got $25 gift cards. By then, it was nearly 10pm, and most of the crowd was heading home. Nearly everyone had to work early the next morning, or be up with their kids, so the Rathskellar emptied out pretty quickly.

                Their team and Charlie’s walked out together, Sam and Jess holding hands, and Dean and Cas walking with their arms wrapped around one another. Neither the tattoo shop, nor the hair salon opened until noon, so Balthazar, Abby, Charlie and Cas had decided to stop off at the Grapes of Wrath. As soon as they were out the door of the Rathskellar, Balthazar handed little Presto off to Charlie, and hopped up on Abby’s back, shouting, “Onward to Grapes!” Abby held him up with no effort at all, rolling her eyes at him. “Yeah, OK Chris Angel, hold on . . .” and she started up the street, bouncing the hairdresser nee wizard dramatically.

                Cas stopped and faced Dean, pulling him close. “I’m glad you came tonight,” he murmured. Dean leaned even closer. “Me too. This was a lot of fun,” he said in a hushed voice, right against Cas’s lips. Castiel smiled into their kiss, but didn’t let it go too far, as he could already hear Abby and Charlie hollering for him to, “say goodnight already!” and “move your ass, Cas!”. Dean pulled back, suddenly shy, and played with the hem of Cas’s t-shirt as he spoke. “Hey, how about I come over and make you dinner this weekend?” Castiel’s smile grew, and he tilted his head, considering. “I think that sounds wonderful, Dean. Saturday?” Dean nodded, dropping the fabric in his hands, and planting one last kiss on the angel’s nose. “Saturday. Bye, Cas.” Cas held his gaze a moment longer, then winked at Dean and turned away, striding after his friends.

               

               

               

               


End file.
